I took this picture as we headed to the hotel lobby to get our cab and head to the airport. This is 4:30am and the sun was just starting to come up. It was absolutely gorgeous.

I don’t normally blog about a “travel day” because typically nothing very eventful happens while sitting in the airport for hours on end waiting on flights. Since we had such a miserable flight coming to the Grand Cayman Islands, I thought I’d share some more nightmare-ish flight adventures.

As you know, (if you’ve been reading since day one) Alaskan Airline left our luggage in Seattle on our way over to Grand Cayman. Oops. No big deal, right? Except for the fact that we needed clothing because after traveling for a day and a half we weren’t exactly feeling very fresh anymore. So on our first day on the island, we went out and spent $300 dollars on some swim stuff so we could at least enjoy the pool while we waited on our luggage. Our flight itinerary was basically this: Seattle to St. Louis, St. Louis to Miami and Miami to Grand Cayman. Every flight after arriving to St. Louis was delayed for one reason or another. It wouldn’t be such a big deal except that one delayed flight screws up the entire order of things.

American Airlines was our main flight provider, and although they were extremely helpful in helping us get our luggage, they really didn’t offer us much more than an apology over Twitter. And that seems to be the norm on their Twitter account. Endless apologies for things that have happened to other travelers.

Soooooo fast-forward to our travel day back to Seattle. Our flight from Grand Cayman to Miami was seamless. When we got to Miami, our flight was supposed to leave at 2pm. That didn’t happen. About five minutes before boarding at our gate, they changed our gate number and we had to go to our new gate which was literally on the other side of the airport. When we got there, the American Airlines guy kept saying something about interference on the field or something, we couldn’t understand what he was saying. We didn’t board our flight until around 3pm. Then we sat on the tarmac for ten minutes before finally leaving for Dallas/Fort Worth. We knew when we got to Dallas/Fort Worth airport, we’d have about ten minutes to get to our gate. Luckily, we didn’t have far to go when we arrived. Unfortunately, our seats were literally at the back of the plane.

We arrived closer to 5pm local time and I thought to myself that were still in good shape to get to our gate. I also thought that American Airlines would communicate to any connecting flights that there was a half hour delay and to hold any planes for arriving passengers. Apparently, they don’t do that anymore. We hustled to our gate with moments to spare. 5:05 PM to be exact. The plane was departing at 5:15pm. I figured since every other flight we’ve been on from American Airlines has been late, I assumed this one would be too. I expected to encounter a long line of people or a nice lady with a smile on her face welcoming us onto our flight. We received the exact opposite. It’s like a storm cloud followed us over to our gate and we got some unhappy, rude woman standing there. I said, “hold on, hold on! We are on this flight!” I attempted to hand my boarding pass to the woman and she instantly stated “No, you were on this flight” like it was our fault that we were late. “Excuse me? What do you mean “we were“?! I replied. “I already gave your seat away…”

Oh, hell no. You did what, American Airlines? You gave my seat away?! Is that what I heard correctly?! Every flight on this trip has been late by 30 minutes or more and I’m late by TWO minutes and you give my seat away?! I was floored. No apology. No sympathy, nothing. One of the rudest person I’ve ever dealt with in my life was standing in front of me and I had to do everything in my power not to literally verbally destroy this woman in the middle of the airport. I was blown away at how cold and uncaring this person could actually be. Flying domestically has become such a travesty. There isn’t any customer service anymore. The airlines (and not just American Air) nickel and dime everyone. They don’t even hand out small bags of peanuts and most airlines won’t let you have a full can of soda. It’s shocking that stuff is even free anymore.

After getting a new flight (now departing at 6:50pm) we trekked across the airport again only to get to our new gate to get the news that our gate had been moved again. Good grief. Of course, I took my complaints and frustrations out on Twitter and started tweeting about how miserable this experience was with American Airlines. What do you know, they responded, and apologized:

@MLBwayneMLB We know that you're upset. We're not always able to hold a plane on the gate past departure.

The American Airlines Devil Woman at the desk who kept me on my flight that I paid for, you know, the one that gave my seat away? She wouldn’t even look at me let alone give a sympathetic apology. I had to go fishing for an apology on Twitter. That’s pretty pathetic.

@MLBwayneMLB We'll get you there as soon as possible. We're sorry for any inconvenience.

I get that airlines like to run flights at near-full or full capacity to turn more of a profit. Unfortunately, they are sacrificing good customer service. The American Airlines Devil Woman made it seem like it was all our fault for being late. Like, we were nursing a hangover or out boozing it up at a local bar in the airport. No, lady. We weren’t. It was the airline that you work for that made us late. We were early for all of our flights like they say to be. Two hours before your flight you need to be at the airport and blah blah blah. Why, so I can sit at the gate and be redirected two or three times to another gate only to have our flight delayed by some mechanical error or some other issue and have to sit on the tarmac for an hour like my flight back to Seattle from Chicago earlier this month?

Our flight was supposed to depart at 6:50 PM and when we finally got to our gate the flight information read that it was delayed to 7:05 PM. Prefect. Why wouldn’t our flight be delayed. This was American Airlines after all. I wouldn’t expect anything less. We started boarding at 7:05 PM and when our group was called to board the reader board stated that all the overhead bins were now full and people were told they had to start checking their luggage. Great. American Airlines ought to put “it’s a surprise” under the departure time instead of an actual time. It was now 7:39 PM when I actually sat down in my seat on the plane. At approximately 8:01 PM, the flight took off from the runway and we were Seattle bound. Un-freaking-believable.

We arrived at Sea-tac around 10:30 PM and while we were walking passed the baggage claim area, we overheard a conversation between a customer and an American Airline staff member. Something along the lines of “it’s showing your luggage was left in Dallas and was never put on the plane”. Well, that’s no surprise.

I don’t want anything from American Airlines. I surely don’t want a travel voucher or a free flight. What I want is my time back. I want my three hours back. I should have been home at 7 PM instead of 11PM. That’s what I want. I want my time back but American Airlines cant give me back my time. Even if they offered a free flight, I would decline. I wouldn’t give it to a friend or a family member either because I wouldn’t want to put anyone I know through the kind of hell they put me and my girlfriend through. I wouldn’t wish this kind of torture on my worst enemy. The best thing American Airlines can do at this point is to tell Devil Woman to get rid of her Resting Bitch Face and start treating customers like they have some kind of value to the company. To tell someone who’s been traveling all day “you were on this flight” and “I already gave your seat away” because they were two minutes late was a pretty good slap in the face. It was rude and I should have cussed her out. But I didn’t. I’m above all of that kind of nonsense because it doesn’t solve anything.

Sorry, American Airlines, but I’m not sorry. You have offensive and ill-mannered employees. And it’s not just with Devil Woman. I’ve noticed a handful of other employees having attitudes as well. Maybe this company needs to invest in better customer service programs. The customer service industry can be a real pain and it’s not easy but that doesn’t mean your employees need to take it out on their passengers.

]]>http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/07/16/grand-cayman-islands-day-6/feed/0seattlebobbleheadsIMG_09106/27/2015 Grand Cayman Islands (Day #5)http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/30/6272015-grand-cayman-islands-day-5/
http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/30/6272015-grand-cayman-islands-day-5/#commentsTue, 30 Jun 2015 16:56:02 +0000http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/?p=2201352]]>Our last full day before we had to head back to the United States. Boo! Leaving this tropical paradise would be so hard but at the same time, it would be bittersweet. After seeing what Georgetown had to offer us yesterday, my girlfriend and I ventured off to see Seven Mile Beach.

Seven Mile Beach is the number one place on the Grand Cayman Island. The water is crystal clear, the sand is so fine and it literally feels like walking on cotton balls. It was the place to be. After arriving to the beach, we instantly regretted not coming out here sooner. But our whole premise behind the trip was to not be rushed and try to cram a bunch of stuff into our day and be exhausted at the end of our vacation. I felt a little rushed when I went to Australia last year and I certainly wanted to just enjoy my stay on the island and not be all wore out when it was time to go home.

The beach was absolutely stunning…

…and what vacation wouldn’t be complete without a beach selfie:

The sun felt so good on us. The sand was so pure and soft between our toes and the water was warm and it cooled us down from the hot summer sun. It was everything we wanted it to be and purely amazing to be here. For the next few hours, we sat underneath a grape tree and talked about life. We stared out into the vast Caribbean sea taking in all her beauty. It was so breath-taking. To think we would be leaving soon to go home kind of made me sad but it would be great to get home and share our memories with friends and family.

We splashed around in the sea for a while longer and then decided to head back to the hotel. Our flight was leaving early the next morning and we needed to pack and get good rest. Plus, our hotel was prime real-estate for a beautiful sunset.

Here’s a few more pictures of us having fun in the Caribbean sea:

If you ever get the chance to visit the Grand Cayman Islands, I highly recommend the Holiday Inn and Resorts. It’s a little out of the way of everything but the hotel offers a courtesy shuttle that runs every hour on the hour from 9am to 5pm and will literally take you to all the places you’ll want to go. If you want to venture out further, you’ll have to take a cab but they are reasonably priced and the cabs are not metered . So you’ll pay a flat rate which is awesome. I’ve been ripped off by so many cab drivers in my travels thus far and quite frankly, it’s really nice to see some kind of control so people can’t get taken advantage of in foreign lands.

From day one the staff has been extremely helpful and polite. Everyone from the house keeping staff to the cab drivers are extremely friendly. People go out of their way to help others here and the Holiday Inn staff made us feel extremely special. The food was amazing wherever we went. It was a little pricey so make sure you bring plenty of money when you visit but it was so worth it. They do have some fast food places like KFC, Wendy’s and Subway, but we weren’t interested in those places so we never stopped in to see if the food quality was any different from the United States.

Aside from Alaskan Airlines leaving our luggage behind in Seattle, (which we got two days later) I would certainly come back. I’d recommend visiting all three islands, though. There’s Grand Cayman (where we stayed) and then just East of this island there is Little Cayman and then Cayman Brac. Eventually, I plan to see all three islands in another visit. Also, there’s Rum Point where you can see sting rays swimming around and a turtle farm about ten miles North of our hotel. We didn’t get to all of those things mainly because we were on “island time” and we just let our day unfold as it did. We were in no rush to do anything except what we wanted. Isn’t that the point of a vacation?

Tomorrow we’d be flying out and that made us sad. But we finished strong and ordered a huge pizza from the Blue Iguana and ate some ice cream afterwards.

Now THAT is a yogurt parfait! Holy smokes! Another great meal at the Blue Iguana just like yesterday, the day before and our first day on the island.

Today we’d experience Georgetown. That was the plan. Georgetown was one of those places where it’s extremely tourist-y and just about every shop sells the same little knick-knacks and trinkets. Alexandra ended up buying a shirt for her Dad and a few little hand-made turtle figurines for her cousins. I bought a much needed coffee mug that had the map of the Cayman Islands on it and a small little turtle figurine for my Mother. My Dad is rather hard to shop for so I’m keeping my eye out for something special for him.

Who knew there’d be a Hard Rock Café around here…

…and here’s another street view picture of Georgetown just to give you an idea of what it was like:

Do you notice the direction of travel that the cars are going? It’s looks backwards, right? Well, that’s because here on the Cayman Islands they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel in most cars is on the opposite side of the car. Pretty crazy, right? It took a couple of cab rides to get used to it, to be honest.

We did a few more hours of shopping before we finally headed back to our hotel room…

…and on our way back, we found this awesome home-made sign that had directional arrows pointing to different destinations around the world:

After exploring Georgetown for most of the day, it was time to head back and get poolside to enjoy some much needed rest and relaxation…

Some days a person just needs to kick back and relax.

]]>http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/29/6262015-grand-cayman-islands-day-4/feed/0seattlebobbleheadsIMG_0882IMG_0885IMG_0884IMG_0886IMG_0889IMG_08946/25/2015 Grand Cayman Islands (Day #3)http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/25/6252015-grand-cayman-islands-day-3/
http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/25/6252015-grand-cayman-islands-day-3/#commentsFri, 26 Jun 2015 04:16:04 +0000http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/?p=2201326]]>Initially, my girlfriend and I, Alexandra, were going to go to Georgetown today. But since we were so badly sunburnt from the day before we decided to stay indoors for the better part of the morning. We finally braved the sun and ended up in Camana Bay.

I don’t know about other hotels within the area, but the Holiday Inn has been exceptionally good to us on this trip. We’ve had complimentary shuttles all week so we haven’t had to take a cab anywhere. When I went to Chicago earlier this month, I used Uber and other taxi services to get to and from Wrigley Field but it was entirely too expensive.

Camana Bay was awesome. We ate at a place called The Upper Crust…

… and Alexandra ordered the Croque Madame…

…and I got the Fish n’ Chips:

I know, I know. I’m in the Cayman Islands and ordering typical American dishes at restaurants. Rest assure. When we hit up Georgetown and Seven Mile Beach, we will be eating exquisite seafood once we find a place. The shopping center was really pretty and the few shops that we did go into, the merchandise was extremely expensive. We went into a store called Sand Angels and they had swim suits in their for $80 dollars! Since Alaska Airlines had lost our luggage, we had to buy some swim wear so we could at least enjoy our first day in the Caymans and the store we went to was called Divers Supply. They had a lot of name brand stuff like Oakley and Polo Ralph Lauren, Hurley, etc. We ended up spending $313 dollars on one pair of board shorts, two pair of flip flops and a bikini for Alexandra. $313! Wow! Good thing the airline is reimbursing me.

We ventured over to a small island that had a bridge connecting to it…

…and once we got over there, you wouldn’t believe what we saw running in front of us in the sand:

Yep! Another Iguana!! We think the one we saw here is one of the Blue Iguanas that are protected because they were literally going extinct ten years ago.

We took our pictures on the sandy island and caught our courtesy shuttle back to the hotel:

On our way back, I noticed how much gas prices were…

…and we also passed through Georgetown. What an amazing town. We were totally excited for the next day to come to spend all day in Georgetown and while we were stopped, we snapped a bunch of pictures of three giant cruise ships that were docked close by. It was amazing to see these mammoth ships up close but the people on them have got to be the most obnoxious, egotistical humans that have ever walked this earth.

While at our hotel a couple of days ago, a huge group of people passed through while we were at the pool. One guy was chugging beer and smoking cigarettes while in the pool and they left a huge mess which allowed the Ching Ching birds to come in and scavenge all the left over food. It was pretty horrific and I couldn’t even eat my lunch because the birds wouldn’t leave me alone. That group acted so entitled like, “hey look at us, we are on a cruise”. Dumb.

When we got to the Cayman Islands yesterday, the airline had lost our luggage. Right before breakfast we received a phone call from the airline stating that our luggage had been left behind in Seattle. What?! How does something like that even happen?! The good news was; our luggage was on the first flight out of Seattle and would be a straight flight to Miami and then, of course, another hour to the Grand Caymans. I was expecting it to arrive some time in the late evening.

After breakfast, we ventured back out to the pool area and out towards the ocean. I walked passed the bushes and this guy decided to show his face…

…they were literally everywhere! And this was the biggest one we’ve seen so far!

Today was one of those days were we wanted to just sit in the pool or lay by the ocean and we pretty much did that for about eight hours…

…not only did I lay by the ocean for hours on end, but I took selfies with the local wild life…

…and took pictures of the local chickens and her baby chicks:

Later that evening, we ate at the Blue Iguana…

…and watched the sun set on the pier…

When we got back to our room, the front desk had left a message on our door letting us know that our bag had made it to the hotel. We were ecstatic and relived at the same time! I rushed down to the front desk, grabbed our bag and returned to our room. What. A. Relief!

We made plans to head out to Camano Bay the following day and experience an adventure in Georgetown. Can’t wait.

]]>http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/25/6242015-grand-cayman-islands-day-2/feed/0seattlebobbleheadsIMG_0853DSCN2283IMG_0862IMG_0860IMG_0855IMG_0866IMG_08656/23/2015 Grand Cayman Islands (Day #1)http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/24/6232015-grand-cayman-islands-day-1/
http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/24/6232015-grand-cayman-islands-day-1/#commentsWed, 24 Jun 2015 13:13:18 +0000http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/?p=2201306]]>The day actually started on the 21st with a flight out of Seattle at 6pm. We arrived in St. Louis around midnight to a completely empty airport. Our layover lasted until about 6am when we caught our second flight out to Miami. When we got to Miami, we immediately boarded our third and final plane to the Grand Cayman Islands. When we arrived at the Cayman Island airport, we had literally been awake for 26 hours. So you could imagine how tired, hungry and ready we were to check into our hotel and get some rest.

Our adventure was just starting. We flew under Alaska Air initially and then our last two flights were under American Airlines. I’m guessing because since we had a short layover after getting into St. Louis that could be the reason as to why our luggage never made it all the way through the trip. The staff was extremely sympathetic and helpful and told us that the airline (American Air) would reimburse us for anything we would end up having to purchase because of our lost luggage.

When we were in St. Louis, my girlfriend, Alexandra, had a feeling that maybe we ought to at least check baggage claim to make sure our luggage didn’t accidently get dropped off. I had a similar gut feeling that maybe we should ask someone about our luggage and just to double-check that it wasn’t sitting somewhere in the airport like in Lost and Found or something. We even thought a couple (who were flying with us) were completely selfish for not checking their two large bags when the airline staff asked if anyone would be willing to check their bags since the flight was full and the overhead compartments would be limited. Ha!

The lobby of the hotel was absolutely stunning…

…and our room was equally amazing:

We made the best of our situation and took our first stroll around the hotel:

On our way over from the airport, the cab driver told us all about the Cayman Islands and how they became. The British and the Spaniards battled in this very location in the 1500’s when Christopher Columbus sailed the seas. There was an apparent cease-fire and the Islands were given to the Brits as part of the deal. We also noticed plenty of Iguanas running around. Those were brought over by the Hondurans for a food supply and they just multiplied like rats. There are native Iguanas but the driver told us we won’t see many of those as they stay on the Eastern side of the island and hate people.

We spent the remainder of the day in the pool and then finally called it a night.

I tweeted about American Airlines losing our luggage and they promptly responded, and I do appreciate that. I’m just a little upset about the entire situation for the fact that this is a six day stay in the Caymans and we literally have no other clothing to change into. The staff member for Alaska Airlines told us our bag would be waiting for us when we got to our destination and we wouldn’t have to get it and re-check it. So not the case. Traveling as become such a wretched endeavor these days…

The cramped leg space, the crying babies, the checked bag fees, the delays and lost luggage issues, along with the airlines literally nickel and diming everyone over movies, wifi, drinks and now meals, it’s amazing anyone ever uses airline companies anymore. But how else are we supposed to get anywhere? Good grief…

]]>http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/24/6232015-grand-cayman-islands-day-1/feed/1seattlebobbleheadsIMG_0839IMG_0841IMG_0851DSCN22656/13/2015 Wrigley Fieldhttp://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/21/6132015-wrigely-field/
http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/21/6132015-wrigely-field/#commentsMon, 22 Jun 2015 04:16:51 +0000http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/?p=2201288]]>This wasn’t exactly a game at the ballpark that I’d be attending and trying to catch baseballs and whatnot. This was the 11th annual Catch in the Confines put on by the Chicago Cubs and I flew all the way from Seattle to be here.

I also met up with Shawn, another ballhawk, from Milwaukee:

This was the first time Shawn and I met up for something like this, and I’m glad I got to share this experience with someone who loves the game as much as I do.

If you’re unfamiliar with what Catch in the Confines actually is, well, I will tell you. The ticket to get inside is around $150 and all proceeds go to Cubs charities. The fans enter into the stadium, go sit in the seating bowl behind home late and receive a barrage of instructions. Basically, the do’s and don’t’s. Don’t touch the ivy, do play catch, etc.

This is the first time the Cubs actually had a Cubs player join the fans on the field. I was excited about that and when I found out it was going to be Jake Arrieta, I immediately bought a ticket, booked a flight and made hotel reservations. I tweeted Shawn and asked if he could make it out, too and he happily obliged. We also tried to get Zack Hample to join us as well, but he stated he wasn’t traveling much this year. I don’t blame him. Traveling around the United States has become such a wretched endeavor.

But nonetheless, I made it to Chicago and more importantly, I made it to Wrigley Field:

The last time I came to Wrigley Field was back in 2009. At that time I didn’t have a blog and I wasn’t really blogging about all of my baseball trips. I didn’t come out for a game, either. It was for some kind of meet n’ greet that the fans got to come into the stadium, walk around the infield and then we all filed into the stands to meet the current Cubs roster. I brought in an official MLB baseball and had Lou Piniella sign that and then used the ball that they gave me for signatures from the rest of the Cubs players.

Once inside, Shawn and I scavenged the stadium for any baseballs that might have been missed by the grounds crew from the day before. Specific instructions were given not to touch the ivy so Shawn’s plan to rifle through the ivy to find any baseballs was shot down.

Here’s me at the wall:

I touched the brick, I touched the grass, I touched infield dirt, I sat on the bullpen bench and I sat in both dugouts. I even drank from the water fountains inside the dugouts. Shawn threw some pitches off the visitors bullpen mound and I caught for him. It was literally a free-for-all on the field and no one said anything to anyone as long as everyone was having a good time and being safe. There was an opportunity to take some swings in the underground battling cages if you wanted, I opted out of that. Later, Shawn tweeted some pictures of the experience.

Finally, I got a chance to talk with Jake Arrieta. If you follow baseball closely like I do, you’ll know that Dan Plesac calls Jake Arrieta, Jake “State Farm” Arrieta on Twitter. So I asked Jake how he responded to that:

Me: “So Dan Plesac calls you Jake “State Farm” Arrieta. Do you like that nickname?”.

Me: “I suppose. Well, I was wondering if you could sign my ball Jake “from State Farm” Arrieta?”

This was the outcome:

Yep! The ball was signed “Jake From” at the top of the ball, then he signed his signature then on the lower portion of the baseball, he signed “State Farm”. Perfect. And I might add, this is one the best autographs I’ve ever received from a player.

After that, I proceeded to photo bomb Jake Arrieta…

…And some more…

…and one more for good measure:

Jake was the coolest guy ever, too. I had a longing question for any baseball player, really. Ever since Twitter came out I have always been curious of celebrity twitter accounts. How they work, are they different from everyone elses, does the blue check mark do anything, you know, odd-ball questions like that. I never really had the opportunity to ask any players during batting practice because they are all kind of busy doing stuff. Jake was just standing there so I posed the question on him.

I said, “you know, I don’t have a blue check mark. So when I tweet, and since I’m not popular like you, nothing happens. I rarely get anyone retweeting my tweets. But you, you know, since you’re a baseball player for the Cubs, when you tweet, what happens?”

He kind of stared at me for a moment like “is this guy serious?” Or maybe he was unsure what I was asking since players are probably routinely asked what kind of pizza they like or which stadium they like the best. Not some crazy question about their Twitter account. But yes, indeed. I was as serious as they come. I wanted to know. In fact, if Arrieta had his phone near him I probably would have asked him to tweet something so I could see first-hand what happens.

He initially laughed at my question and then went on to explain that everything is pretty much the same as anyone else’s account. There’s nothing special about his account just because he has a blue check mark. When he tweets, he gets notifications in his mentions just like anyone else would.

Interesting. Having a celebrity twitter account wasn’t exactly as exciting as I had expected but hey. Now I know.

After I talked with Arrieta, I was pulled aside by CN100Sports and was interviewed about my experience. It should air some time soon on Comcast Xfinity on Demand, so if you’re in the Chicago area or have Comcast, you ought to see if you can find the interview. Here’s a Youtube snippet about the event:

Fast-forward to .22 seconds for a glimpse of me on there.

Until next time!

]]>http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/21/6132015-wrigely-field/feed/0seattlebobbleheadsShawn N WayneCubs marqueeWallja sfPhotbomb 1Photobo,b 2photobomb 3Pano WrigA-Rod’s 3,000th hithttp://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/21/a-rods-3000th-hit/
http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/21/a-rods-3000th-hit/#commentsSun, 21 Jun 2015 18:00:36 +0000http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/21/a-rods-3000th-hit/The Baseball Collector:So . . . as you may have heard, Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th career hit happened to be a home run, and I happened to snag it. (Un-REAL!!) I’m planning to write a long blog entry with lots of photos, but things are so crazy right now that I wanted to…]]>

So . . . as you may have heard, Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th career hit happened to be a home run, and I happened to snag it. (Un-REAL!!) I’m planning to write a long blog entry with lots of photos, but things are so crazy right now that I wanted to get this up quickly.

First, here I am on TV with the ball:

Here’s a better look at the ball itself:

The “R” is for “Rodriguez,” and the “1” indicates that it was the first specially-marked ball of the game that was put into play for his at-bats. Those markings were already there when I snagged it. The sticker up above was placed there a little while later by an MLB authenticator.

Now, why are things so crazy? Here’s a screen shot of my email inbox:

I’ve already gotten SO MANY interview requests — and I still have 62 texts that I…

]]>http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/06/21/a-rods-3000th-hit/feed/0seattlebobbleheads4/20/2015 Safeco Fieldhttp://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/04/23/4202015-safeco-field/
http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/04/23/4202015-safeco-field/#commentsThu, 23 Apr 2015 18:28:52 +0000http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/?p=2201272]]>If you haven’t heard the Bryan Price rant, I suggest you click this link and have a listen. Although, entertaining, it’s really off-track and kind of appalling that he’d take a stance on this kind of issue with the media. Price has been coaching for about 15 years and started his coaching stint with the Seattle Mariners in 2000 so it’s hard to understand just where he’s coming from. He issued an apology for the excessive profanity but says he stands by “the message”. What message is he standing by, exactly? The media has a job to do and their job is to report things. Not only did Price drop 77 f-bombs but he continuously said “I don’t get it” as well as “you don’t have to be a fan of the Reds”. Yet, he asked the media on hand many times how does reporting certain things benefit the Reds? It’s not their job to be fans of the Cincinnati Reds, Mr. Price. And you said so yourself that they don’t have to be.

Honestly, it seemed like Price was trying to play the ignorant card. He’s been around long enough that he should understand all aspects of the media. He should understand if someone within the Reds organization leaks some information to the media concerning the whereabouts of players, their condition or if they are going to play or not, the media will report it. It’s their job to report things like that. If Price wants to keep things hush hush then maybe he ought to try doing his job better.

I ran into him again and this time I introduced myself and got a picture with Mr. Divish:

I’m not entirely sure he was too thrilled to get a picture taken with me but it was fun nonetheless.

The Astros were in Seattle for a three game set and I’d get to attend the first game of the series. I’ve been hoping for an opportunity to catch some home run baseballs and I figured since the Astros have a track record of sucking so much no one would attend this game. I was right. The attendance was roughly 15, 100 people. The last few games I’ve been sitting in the outfield and nothing has came remotely close to me. So when I got a text message from one of my buddies that he was coming out and wanted to shag BP home runs with me, I was stoked! The unfortunate part about it was he had prime real-estate seating down the first base side. Foul ball heaven. I figured, hey, nothing has been coming to me as of late, why not.

I bought a cheap bleacher seat for $14 then I upgraded to the lower seating bowl so I could sit with him. Batting practice was a blast. I caught an over-throw while standing in the ‘Pen from a toss-up that glanced off a glove. The ball bounced around and finally rolled to my feet where I easily scooped it up. My second ball came from a deep fly that I easily caught near the Mariners bullpen. Once the entire stadium opened up, I ran down to the lower third base seating bowl and picked up my third baseball that was sitting between the seats.

Jose Altuve lofted a soft fly ball into the third base seats and I made an easy catch and handed the ball to my buddy:

Before that Luis Valbuena pointed at us several times while taking some infield practice grounders. I was thinking he was going to hook us up with a baseball and when I turned my head to look out into the outfield, all I saw was a baseball trickle passed me along the wall. I scooped it up thinking it had been hit our way. But Valbuena had thrown it to the couple that was standing next (who had missed it) to us so we passed it down to them.

Here’s a picture of us all sitting in our awesome seats:

The kids seen in the picture above were extremely annoying. Later, after the game started, four more kids showed up and all six of them literally yelled and screamed and squirmed around in their seats. They did everything BUT pay attention to the game. I eventually moved down a row to an open seat next to my friends and watched the game in peace.

Luis Valbuena literally led off the game with a towering home run into the right field seats. Coincidently, the seats I was planning on buying before I ended up getting a cheap ticket. Then in the 8th inning, he hit another one nearly in the same spot. I felt really good about being able to catch both IF I had been out there. Take a look at these monster shots:

Your browser does not support iframes.

The one game I decide not to sit in the outfield…

The Astros went on to win it 7-5. Colby Rasmus went deep too but it was hit into the center field family section.

We had a few foul balls hit our way but they were hit a few sections over so I didn’t have much of a chance.

While on the way home from the game, I tuned into the post-game show with Shannon Drayer (@ShannonDrayer) and she mentioned Evan Gattis had a very unique story about him. I decided to look it up and read about it.

]]>http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/04/23/4202015-safeco-field/feed/1seattlebobbleheadsIMG_0714IMG_071911174957_10203613344446650_3885820628988981290_n4/19/2015 Safeco Fieldhttp://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/04/21/4192015-safeco-field/
http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/2015/04/21/4192015-safeco-field/#commentsTue, 21 Apr 2015 18:11:37 +0000http://stock350i.mlblogs.com/?p=2201263]]>Sunday games at Safeco Field (or any ballpark for that matter) are always a challenge when it comes to attempting to snag baseballs. There’s no batting practice for one, and it’s usually family day so that means lots and lots of kids are coming out.

If it’s one thing I’ve learned over the years of “ballhawking” at Major League stadiums, 1) players like to throw baseballs to kids and 2) without batting practice, it makes things extremely tough. On the plus side, the Mariners were doing a little infield practice and I already saw an opportunity to snag a few baseballs.

When I ran over to the first base side I found a ball sitting in between the seats which was probably an over throw from one of the players while fielding fungos from one of the coaches. It wasn’t long before I scored another over throw:

After that, I ran over to where Fernando Rodney was throwing and when he was done throwing, I was able to get his autograph on my ticket stub:

On the other side of the stadium, the Rangers were slowly trickling out of the dugout to warm up down the third base side. It wasn’t long before I scored a third over throw that hit the padding of the wall. I quickly scooped it up and tossed it back onto the field.

See the guy with his leg up in this panoramic picture I took?

That’s one of the translators for one of the players and he was missing a lot of baseballs while playing long toss with Tanner Scheppers. And yup, you guessed it. Yet another over throw right into my glove. Of course I had to give it back because they only came out with one ball to play catch with.

My haul after all the players went inside:

(two pictured here because I gave two back)

And now the infamous ‘Pen dog that I’ve been waiting all year to eat…

…cream cheese smeared on the bun, a 100% all beef frank with caramelized onions and peppers…yum.

The Mariners quickly got two runs on the board with an Austin Jackson home run and a Nelson Cruz home run (Jason Phillips caught it in his hat. It was quite impressive and you should watch the replay).

The Rangers answered back in the 3rd with a single from Prince Fielder that scored Martin and moved Andrus to 2nd. And then the wheels literally fell off. Paxton was chased from the mound after giving up seven runs in the 3rd inning.

The Mariners continued their offensive battle with another Nelson Cruz 3-run home run into the Rangers bullpen. 7-5 Texas.

The Rangers made the score 10-5 in their top half of the sixth and the Mariners quickly rallied back in the bottom of the seventh and the eighth scoring three runs.

In the bottom of the ninth, it was time to put on the rally caps! The M’s came screaming back scoring one run to tie after Jackson ripped one to right field scoring Brad Miller. Seth Smith moved over to third base and all it took was a Nelson Cruz base walk-off base hit! He was mobbed at first base and the Mariners won in walk-off fashion!

Nelson Cruz went 3-6 with two home runs and five RBI’s! Wow! It feels really good to have such a power hitter in the line up. It’s been a long time since Seattle has had one.